SAO FanFiction Archives?
by The SAONotTheAnimeOrManga Guy
Summary: Wanna see my archives of failed fanfiction stories? Look no further as it's right here! Rated M for possible future stuff
1. Previously Chapter 4 of Devastation

_AN: Fourth chapter! Enjoy guys! Hopefully it's longer I just wrote and wrote and it turned out like this._

 _P.S. I will be doing frequent updates on previous chapters so please bear with me if there are sudden language changes. I'm still…"working on" my style of writing._

 _Gadget boy: Thanks again for reviewing. I'm trying to add more Asuna in but I'm afraid that I'm not good at writing fluff or whatever it is...here you go._

I was walking back after the morning's events, determined to take a long nap for my hard work today, when I heard a shout. Now shouts were common here, but I had heard enough shouts to know that this one was not normal. Picking up my pace, I dashed with newfound speed around the corner of the next intersection, intending to head towards the source of the shout. After taking another sharp right in the alleyways, I got to a dead end with an interesting sight.

All I could see in front of me were four to five guys. They were facing towards the dead end, seeing as how they WEREN'T facing towards me, so I assumed that there was something of importance at the dead end. Taking extreme care not to alert them to my presence, I activated my pro-incoming-found «Hiding» skill and blended in with the wall next to me. Well, it's not like they could've seen me anyways if they didn't turn back, but it never hurt to be careful. Worst case, they could take it the wrong way and well...rumors galore in the Daily Argo.

Sneaking up on them as fast as a slow crawl-walk, I slowly tip-toed my height up to where I could see what they were looking at. Fortunately, they were crouching, shaking in obvious lust, so it wasn't hard at all to get above their height to see what they were staring at so intently. Moving my gaze downward, I slowly got something in my field of vision. It turned out to be a...sword.

A damn sword, that was what they were lusting over. I shook my head and prepared to leave when it caught my eye. It looked vaguely like my «Anneal Blade», so it might be-

It IS an «Anneal Blade». Well, that changes a lot. I can understand now why they wanted it so much. On the first floor, a sword as great as this can sell for fifteen, no, TWENTY thousand col. Easily. Knowing them, they were probably arguing for it amongst themselves like the-

Paying more attention to them, I could tell that it was indeed the group that assaulted me earlier. Knowing Kibaou, he would probably make them give the sword to him like the sniveling cowards they are and they would probably get nothing. Well, all the more need to get the sword now for me to sell, eh?

I jumped over them in one fluid frontflipping motion and swiftly deposited the sword in my inventory before jumping back behind them and running out the alleyway, all like a pro. Hearing no sounds behind me, I could guess that they were even all too busy arguing to notice-

Multiple screams were then heard as well as sounds of a scuffle. Well, it seems that they did notice. Not that they would ever find me anyways. Behind me, I could hear irregular footsteps, obviously footsteps of greedy men who would push each other away for a prize even though they were on the same team. Their reduced speed would mean me getting away ten times easier than normal and me leaving them in the dust. Oh ho ho, I wonder how they will explain that incident to Cacti. If they're actually smart though, they wouldn't report it to him. But they probably will. Hell, does anyone even fucking care about what happens to them? I for sure don't.

After getting sufficiently out of range, I navigated myself to a restaurant run by an NPC and seated myself down at a table to examine my new piece of loot. Waving away the NPC when she asked me for my order, I set to work taking the sword out of my inventory and placing it on the table. Most people at this time of the day were out grinding so I shouldn't have to worry about people nosing in on my business with my sword.

Tapping on the sword lightly, I could see that it was a very high quality «Anneal Blade». Being a +8, 5 Sharpness, 2 Durability, and 1 Speed, or 5S2D1S, it was indeed a blade worthy of being wielded by me. My own «Anneal Blade» was only +5, with 3 Sharpness, and 2 Durability. Chuckling at my insane luck, I checked the other stats of the weapon. It was at almost full durability and best of all, had only one failure. Seeing how many upgrades it had on it, it was indeed a miracle that it made it that far. It even had one more upgrade slot sitting just for me, being the boss I am. Cardinal the god must be bestowing good luck on me right now for me to be this lucky in finding this blade, let alone in a safe zone IN AN ALLEY. I put the sword on my back, replacing the one that I currently equipped, and prepared to set out to test this new blade out on some low-level mobs.

Taking the south entrance out of the town to get out, I walked along the dirt-beaten path for several minutes, before getting to the entrance to a forest. I looked deep into the forest in thought before unsheathing my sword to test it out. Walking into the forest, I heard numerous mobs spawn behind me in search of a meal...err...I mean in search of a player to kill for no reason. Holding up my sword in a classic stance, angle bladed forty-five degrees towards the air, I prepared to meet whatever charge came at me.

It turned out to be just one measly monster. A «Little Nepent» Well, at least it was one monster, right? With a quick «Slant» to its wide-open stalk, it burst into polygons and a Congratulations window opened in front of me, showing my experience gained, col gained, and items gained (Which happened to be nothing.) Holding my new sword in my hand, I felt much more at ease. The new sword seemed to fit my hand much easier than the old one, and the weight distribution was almost perfect to me. It was almost the weight distribution of...a...kendo stick.

Yeah. A kendo stick. No wonder it felt familiar. At a young age, I had much experience in kendo, participating in even national championships and swinging the wooden stick in the air numerous times when there was nothing to do. It was normal for muscle memory to join me in SAO, so I was lucky for the added real-life experience into my sword experience. I sheathed my sword back on my back and set off walking back to «Tolbana».

Walking back, I encountered no more monsters for some reason. Maybe it was because I was too high-leveled, but no more «Little Nepents» seemed to spawn around me. I shrugged my shoulders and continued my leisurely pace, aiming to enjoy the great scenery here before I *supposedly* died in the boss battle. By three, I had arrived back at the town and was ready to relax back in my inn room. Taking the short route unlike usual, I arrived back at the inn I was residing in within minutes. I didn't really care about attention this time anyways, though many people recognized the sword on my back and gave me jealous looks.

Taking my time up the stairs to the second floor, I pondered what I should do with my time before I go to dinner. By the time I got back to my inn room (It happened to be number 206, so it was towards the end of the stairs), I had settled on swinging my sword using sword skills in preparation for whatever was to come. If what that girl Asuna had told me the first time we met was true, my strikes should get stronger if I willed my body to move instead of just relying on the system assist.

Stepping into my inn room and shutting the door, I set to put that idea to the test. First, I wanted to activate a «Vertical». Simple enough, but I had something else to test this time. The first time I swung the sword, it was fast. Fast, but slower than that girl Asuna's strikes were. Even though she was equipped with a rapier instead of a longsword like I was, her strikes seemed inhumanely fast. Settling into another stance, I set this time in my mind the movement of the sword. Swinging the sword again, I could feel the difference. With the sword bouncing off the ground with a loud *CLACK*, it rebounded up and settled back sturdily into my hand. This time swinging the sword, I could obviously feel the difference, The sword moved much faster than normal, and the «Sword Skill» that I was executing reached much farther than when I had done it by itself without any outside assistance.

I smirked and sheathed my sword back on my back, happy that I had learned one more thing useful today. Who knows? Maybe I could even sell my newfound information to Argo-

A loud knock interrupted my thinking. Just as I was about to rest again, more knocks came. Sighing quietly under my breath, I opened my door, expecting that rat Argo-

It turned out to be Asuna, my "fellow" clearer.

Looking at her, I could see that she had gotten a considerable upgrade to her gear since I last saw her at the boss meeting. I could feel the same determination in her eyes from the time in the amphitheatre burning into me.

'Well, I'm screwed.'

She stomped into my room. I was prepared to end my life right now and there before she could get to me and kill me for-

Again, something totally unexpected happened. I must really suck at predicting things for stuff to happen twice in a row completely unexpectedly.

She stared at me and let all her tension out in front of me. Seeing her visibly deflate like a balloon out of air, I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that she probably won't kill me.

"Well, is there something you-" I started, aiming to squeeze her reason for her coming to my inn room *right* out of her.

She interrupted me right then and there with a sharp "Hmph!", not letting me talk any further. Damn. SUCH a spoiled girl. In defeat, I sighed again and sat down on my bed, ready to hear whatever she was going to say.

Asuna slumped down into a chair in sheer exhaustion, much to the surprise of me. She seemed to have so much energy back when she was at the door, but she just like, melted once she got into my room. Before I could say anything more, I looked at her and her eyes were closed.

Looking closer, I could tell she was asleep. How she didn't even bother taking off her clothes and chang-

'God dammit mind shut up go to sleep or something leave me alone.' For the second time that week, my mind agreed to shut up, though I knew it wouldn't be for long.

I decided to leave her alone for the time being, and I laid back down into my bed, ready to take another nap after the day's events-

I opened my eyes to the ceiling of my inn room yet again. Seeing that it was already 6:30, I sat up and swung my legs over the bed to regain my bearings before going to dinner. Preparing to walk to the bathroom in my room, I stopped in shock when I heard the shower already running. And a certain girl's voice humming while taking a bath.

I tried to resist the urge to open the door. Seeing that Asuna was a complete noob at VR games, especially SAO, I bet that she didn't know that the door wouldn't lock behind her when she went into the bathroom...she didn't own the room, after all. I owned the room.

Playing a mental mind game against my brain, I finally made up my mind and walked into the bathroom, against my personal will. Starting to open the door, I squeezed my eyes shut and took my first step in. It seemed safe. Knowing that, I took another hesitant step in. Seeing that the path was clear, I started to open my eyes.

'Wait, where did the humming go-'

I felt a sharp sting on my cheek as a hand slapped my face, forcing my eyes fully open. In front of me was Asuna. Feeling a tinge of red flush upon my cheeks, I tried to back out of the bathroom but was unsuccessful when Asuna slammed me against the wall in a fit of rage, face almost close enough to touch but also close enough to see the rage in her eyes.

'Well, I guess she did learn of the door being unable to lock...'

I managed to crack a tiny smile at that remark but quickly stopped when she raised her fist in front of my face. Though I couldn't get physically hurt in a SAFE zone, it would still hurt like hell, and with my past experiences with Argo, I knew that she could smack me as much as she wanted to without me dying. I grimaced in pain and prepared to virtually die.

She sighed and threw me out the door with a shout, before stalking out herself, fully clothed, to continue killing me. 'Just how many points did she put into strength?' I thought. Being able to push me, with a high strength stat, was barely possible, but being able to throw me…

'Maybe it's just because I was unprepared for it. Yeah. I wasn't that prepared for her to throw me. So she can't really be that high level, right?'

Invisible eye lasers boring into my head, I tried to scoot away from the oncoming wave of pain and hurt. A few seconds later I bumped into a wall, and cursed my small inn room. She stalked towards me with a menacing face until she was a few inches away from me and then stopped.

"So, WHY DID YOU FUCKING GO INTO THE BATHROOM WHEN YOU KNEW I WAS IN IT!?" she screamed at me. I could see the fury in her voice, and I tried to make a meek excuse without saying the complete truth to her.

"Err...well…" I scrabbled at my brain, trying to make a suitable excuse so that I wouldn't get pounded into the ground.

"Yeah." I had finally gotten a hold of one such excuse that she would probably not know about. It might just work…

"You see...I didn't know that you were in there, and the shower was on, so I wanted to see-"

Oops. Wrong response. She glared at me further and for the second time in five minutes, smashed me against the wall. The wall didn't break and the «Immortal Object» status popped up, signifying that it was unbreakable. Well that was a shame. I was perfectly ready to jump out of the hole in the inn and run for my life.

"As I had learned from a certain... **someone** , showers don't work if someone isn't inside."

She smirked as she found her way through my lie, and leaned closer to me so I could see more of her menacing face.

Damn. I should've known that she would go to Argo for information.

"So what's the REAL reason for going into the bathroom?" she asked.

I scrabbled at my brain for another excuse to give her before finding out that I had none. I...err...was forced to go through with the half truth.

"Well…" I started, trying to get her to calm down a little before she would kill me. "Teenage tendencies. Yeah. That's what it is."

I was confident that I had won when I saw her smirk, but then went back to those broken eyes when she told me the next part, mischief evident in her veins as she pondered what to do with her new information.

I widened my eyes in horror when she told me her plan to sell the information to Argo for much much many col, and increased friendship with her. If she got the information I would never hear the end of it.

'Note to self: Avoid Argo and Asuna at any costs.'

Inching to the left, I finally got far enough away and jumped to my feet, before running and getting my «Anneal blade» from the floor. I then ran out of the inn as fast as I could and took many winding turns so she could never find me again. I could never be a clearer again. I could never get a wife anymore after this. I could never-

Somehow in my running I had run out into the main square. I felt multiple stares pierce my veins, some of hate because of my beta-tester status, some of confusion, and some of...oh god.

Well, Asuna was fast in getting to Argo. Argo probably went thrice her speed to get to Asuna for that juicy information, and then probably distributed it with the newspaper as well as sending a message to her friends, which numbered many.

I could feel people looking at me with disgust, and people with kids moving them away from me. My life was forever over with that fact now circulating, and I ran again, knowing that I was forever a renegade, and forever "him".

Running randomly, I found myself again back at the inn by pure luck. Rushing up the stairs knowing that people wouldn't even come out to look at me because of the awesome sound-proof walls of the room, I dashed into my room, locked the door, and jumped into my bed, covering my whole body including my face and shivering with the news.

My world is now over.

 _AN: Haha I added some Asuna in there, Kirito is really screwed now. He's forever a pervert and he will never get any girls anymore :P_

 _Please leave a review if you like it, or if not, please leave it with advice on what to do or with ideas for the next chapter._

 _Sad disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, or any of its adaptations._

 _(Is this how you do a disclaimer? I have no damn idea.)_


	2. Previously Chapter 1 of Devastation

_Author's Note: This will now be my second fanfic! (The first one I err...put on hiatus because I didn't think I was ready to make up floors and stuff like that so I decided to keep it and make another one because I didn't have the heart to delete it)_

 _Also, in this one I called the creator of SAO Kayaba instead of Akihiko because I decided that it just sounded more normal. Idk if that's right, though._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online. I wish I did. Story and adaptations are owned by Reki Kawahara_

 _And without further ado, here's the first chapter._

Right now I was in the middle of the first floor boss battle. It's going really..."badly", I have to say. Half of our guys were dead before we knew it and then people just...broke. The ones that were still sane ran from the boss in extreme fear.

"Retreat!" Diabel shouted, aware of the apparent danger in the boss.

All the players that were still alive hurriedly ran to the back ranks, if those even existed anymore. Even Heathcliff, who was renowned already for being an incredible tank and a valuable asset to the clearers, ran back in fear of dying.

Those who didn't move in that timeframe got trampled by the boss, «Illfang The Kobold Lord» and were mercilessly crushed in the relentless attack by its minions soon after. I was dashing around the boss at an incredible speed, but not even daring to engage it, I played it safe for all the players, just focused on parrying or blocking its attacks so other players could get away.

So far, the boss battle had been a huge, huge failure. Maybe it was because Kayaba intended people to stay in the game longer, but the boss was over 5 time stronger than the beta one.

The beginning of the boss battle turned out just fine, with the clearers easily dispatching the minions before going on to the boss. But once we got to the boss, everything went wrong. The boss buffed itself and all hell broke loose for the clearers.

It seemed that no one had even bothered to check that little line at the back of the book.

This "scouting mission raid on the boss's lair" with the whole force had been a failure, mainly because the door had even locked behind them with a counter of 600 seconds to reopen. We had paid no attention to it at the beginning but we were now seriously punished by the inability to escape.

"Save me please!" a random clearer shouted. "Please save me I'm going t-"

No one as far as I saw bothered trying to save him. He was a lost cause. I myself was too far to save him, so I could only watch in horror as he made a last bid for escape.

The clearer that I saw being chased apparently didn't put any points into his agility stat (Such an idiot, right?), and even being chased by the boss, didn't choose to throw down his equipment and run away. It were these people that died due to their selfishness, and their thoughtlessness.

With one last leap for freedom, he tried to jump out of the boss's weapon range (still with his equipment on)...

And failed as he only jumped a small distance due to the heavy equipment on his body. I mentally facepalmed at his stupidness but tried not to focus too much on it.

In front of my eyes, I saw him get crushed by Illfang's Nodachi, which turned out to be a far more formidable weapon than it's previous one. He then burst into polygons with a parting scream from the guy. Everyone stared in shock at the player's sudden death. The boss battle was going worse as expected, with the boss's equipment fully changed and all its attack patterns and skills new and never before seen.

The boss, lastly, was seriously buffed, with almost double the speed and at least five times more strength than in the beta.

'Heh. I guess Kayaba really didn't want us to rush the game, eh? We were totally unprepared for the boss...'

Even I, the master player in the game who had the highest level in the beta and the most real experience, had a shittingly tough time fighting the boss and the minions. They were just a too high level for even the clearers.

The players that were still alive were screaming, scattering, and panicking all around the room. Many of them had never felt failure in the game before, thus they were not prepared for the feeling of anguish that swept and conquered their minds as friends and comrades around them died. I, though, had numerous experiences with failiure, thus I thought clearly even in this time of chaos.

Many of the *slightly smarter* ones then tried hugging the walls to feel for escape, or they tried to hide around the pillars, but eventually the boss got to them with its overpowered Nodachi and its incredible speed. They never stood a chance against that thing.

Only the ones who were smart enough to keep moving and zigzagging survived the onslaught from Illfang and his minions.

Before long, there were only a handful of people left: Me, Asuna, Heathcliff, Diabel, some ragtag clearers that were able to adapt to the situation, and yes, Cactus-man. (I Know, right? I really wanna crush that spiky head of his...)

We were all facing back to back each other like one of those Star War movies, it was mildly amusing to some of us but we then quickly sobered up to stay alive.

Our massive mobilized group of clearers that had numbered over 50 had dropped to just about eight in seven minutes. We could see loot and equipment from all their dead comrades around them, some even being top-notch, but us, being smart, didn't bother going after them, for that would be utter suicide in our conditions. Plus, there were no potions in the dead body pile. They had all been drunk by people trying to survive. At least they had been smart enough to do THAT.

Illfang and the mass of Kobolds slowly drew closer to us. The boss seemed to be taking it's sweet little time, taking as slow of steps as possible and (yes) regenning its little lost HP from the "attack" we gave it. With a peek at the clock. Diabel could tell that there were only 60 seconds left from the door opening to their freedom. All of our health was in the yellow or red, so ofc we couldn't rush going all-out.

After a tense moment of silence, Heathcliff spoke up.

"I have a plan."

Those words alerted everyone, including me, to his presence and we all hopefully looked at him like kids to an adult in search for an answer..

Heathcliff then carefully explained his plan in great detail to us, the people who were gratefully still alive.

Right now we were about 10 m from the door in which would be our sweet, sweet freedom, with the mass of Kobolds coming at us from the middle of the room. We would slowly inch their way through the door, fast but slow (wait what?), those with the least health inside hugging the walls, and those with higher health on the outside fending off the crowd, and then jump out of the boss room into the safe zone.

It seemed like a great idea, and it was even better coming from the leader of the whole group, Heathclleeeeeeeef.

Everyone nodded in appreciation to this apparently master plan to get them out alive and we shuffled and got in our places.

Only seconds later, Heathcliff's plan was in motion. With Heathcliff leading the "wall" with the highest health among all of them, they scooted along the wall towards the door.

For twenty tense seconds, the "wall" of people held off the mobs as they poured in towards them. All of the potions people had "hidden" in their bodies were given to those inside, so they wouldn't be accidentally killed with a stray slash from their teammates or the enemy mobs. I, of course, had many potions in hidden storage *cough*eight*cough*, so we managed to make it halfway so far without any deaths.

Then we got to the door. The ones inside the wall pushed on the door, and we all poured out onto the dungeon floor, where there was coincidentally a safe zone.

All of us heaved for breath, already thanking each other for the hard work they put in to get them all out alive. As usual, I stayed away from the others, and just congratulated myself. As we looked back inside the doors as it was closing, we could see everyone's gear still on the ground, their durability slowly dropping not being in anyone's inventory.

But they knew they wouldn't be going back in for it. Once in already, they knew that the door would automatically lock behind them, and they knew that if they went in again they wouldn't come back out.

Only the biggest idiot would go back in for those items.

I looked at who was left among the clearers, and assessed the situation with thoughtful eyes.

First, there was a man named Rythin, teenage, thin, and unusually quiet. He used a dagger and many hidden knives, and had almost shoulder-length hair, as well as clear ivory-colored eyes that you could tell was examining your every move. He was a force to be reckoned with.

Next, there was a woman named Sashima.

I reeled back in shock. Not just one woman clearer, but two? I must be in luc-

I quickly shook his head to get all those lewd thoughts out of my mind.

'Seriously, mind?' 'Grow up, man...' My mind then shut up and went back to being analytical and smart.

I then went back to examining her strengths and flaws, something that I found I was good at doing back at the beginning of the floor when he helped train numerous people to be able to survive in the game.

She was medium build but tall, a woman that you could tell would be on the front lines. In her dark blue eyes burned a determination similar to that of Kirito's, a determination to clear the game with all her might. Weirdly, though, though she was of medium-large stature, she was only a dagger user, which I was puzzled at. Then I remembered her being at the front of her wall, and her...fearsome speed. She was not a force to be reckoned just because of her size…but that large size would mean that she would have less room to maneuver during combat. I just hoped that she would fare okay in the next boss battle, assuming we lived to see it.

The last surviving clearer was a small kid, almost the same age as me but slightly younger in terms of size and height. He was apparently named Shigatsu, which seemed to be a weird name for someone like him, but I waved it off. People named their kids weird things all the time.

I could see that he was a kid who put more points into strength than into speed, and his heavy armour confirmed my theory. Armed with a longsword and a small shield, I could tell that he planned on rushing in on enemy mobs and attacking it with quick strikes. Though his equipment build was almost the same as mine, swapping out the armour and the sword, I was skeptical at the heavy armour, which might impede his movement, even though it could absorb more damage.

These three, Heathcliff, I, Asuna, Diabel, and that cactus-head shit, were the only people that remained from the giant clearing group that had walked in six minutes earlier.

After a long time of deep thought, I sighed at the three remaining clearers; not for them being underclass, but for them being the only ones left from the entire 50-man raid. The clearing efforts would be seriously hurt with only them left out of the original 45 people that came...of course, there was still Heathcliff, Asuna, and that weird Cactus-head...oh how I wished he would just die, but I knew that he couldn't just let anyone die. People could still prove to be useful later in the game, even...yes, him.

A few minutes passed and all of them were able to get to their senses after the near-death experience. We counted ourselves up and were in joy. None of the clearers that were left had died, which meant that Heathcliff's plan was a huge success. Even though I had already counted them up a long time ago. They would come back later to try and conquer the floor boss again, hopefully with less casualties. But apparently there was still danger, even if there were no mobs to be found.

With danger out of range, Cactus-man suddenly turned on me and the other beta tester that was in their group with a raging attitude worthy of his spiky orange hair.

"It's all YOUR FAULT," he seethed at the us.

I looked down at my feet, feeling slight, no, INSANE rage at him for blaming me, but I thought out against lashing out at him. We're all comrades here, right? We should all be happy together and-

You know what? Fuck it. That piece of shit interrupted my daydream AND insulted me. He's gonna die. But later, slowly and painfully...

"It's because of YOU "Beta Testers" THAT WE ARE ALL" Cactus continued. "DEAD."

"You KNEW it was a Nodachi, didn't you!" he continued. "YOU knew, but you didn't bother to tell us, you filthy fucking beta—NO, not that...BEATER!"

That last word there stung me like a whole fleet of hornets but still, he tried to keep his anger in, not wanting to cause even more trouble for the group. No one had ever called me something like this before. But I stayed quiet. They were in bad shape as is and he didn't want to make it worse.

"YOU FUCKERS DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO...FUCKING...HELP US and GIVE us some of the STUFF that you guys are FUCKING HOARDING cause you guys are WORTHLESS. SELFISH. BEEEEETCHES!"

I winced at that sudden comment. He sure knew how to hurt people…

Before Cactus-man would cause even more trouble with his forever screaming and flailing like a little kid with a tantrum, Heathcliff stepped in.

"Now, now…It's **not their fault,** " he firmly stated, contrary to his relaxed attitude at the beginning of the sentence. He was like a rock that refused to move. He must've been pretty pissed at him before for his "scene" to step in like that..

Cacti-man stared at him like he was crazy, and then tried to shove him away, only to be met with his incredible strength and his tower shield, which pushed him back further than he pushed Heathcliff, which was...nothing.

Heathcliff continued his speech, oblivious to the midget in front of him trying to beat him up. "Do you see this clause on the back of the book the beta testers gave?" He held out the book, front side facing the group in front of him.

They all shook their heads. Why would they ever look at the back of the book? It's not like there's anything useful, right?

But I recognized that clause immediately. Why? Because I made half of the book, dammit. Argo made the other half, yet she's taking most of the profit. That damn fucking rat-

Heathcliff then flipped the book over and showed them the back of the book, particularly pointing at a line at the bottom, complete with the logo of Argo, a face with three whiskers on each cheek. Smiling. Smiling at the reader like she wanted to kill them if they didn't give her money. It was an odd logo but it worked to help people know who she was.

Everyone looked closer, not wanting to miss the point he was about to give.

"Features in this book MIGHT be different in the actual game," he boomed. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!?"

Everyone just shook their head and stared him blankly, except for "that guy", who was still seething due to him being yelled at. But of course, he's too stupid to do anything useful anyways.

"IT MEANS. IT MEANS THAT IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT THAT THIS HAPPENED." Heathcliff was really looking red in the face now, probably due to the inability of these idiots to understand anything. And I totally agreed with him.

Diabel shook his head at the statement.

"And to think we were all too stupid to look at this..." he whispered quietly into the air, a hint of remorse in his voice.

He and Heathcliff looked up at all of us and started explaining to us the reason, slowly, like we were five year-olds, of course not screaming like Cactus-man did over there.

"Do you really think that things would be same in the actual game if the beta testers were also in there with an insane advantage?"

The people all around him slowly shook his head, finally realizing what Diabel, Heathcliff, and Kirito had known since the book came out. There was no way everything could be the same.

That would make it too easy for people. Damn. It took them THAT long to understand?

I rolled my eyes. Idiots. COMPLETE idiots all around.

They all stayed silent for a moment. Then, Cacti-man spoke up again and started yelling at the rest of us for...err...not listening to him. Then they started "yelling" at him back, with equally low voices as Diabel and Heathcliff before. There was no reason to waste their breath on a pitful midget like Cacti-guy. The argument went on for a long while, with Heathcliff, Diabel and the others talking in low, calm voices, while Cactus was screaming his head off at why the beta testers should kneel, beg for mercy, and give all their stuff to the regulars who apparently "were disadvantaged due to their selfishness," with quite a few swear words added in between. The rest of them just sighed at his immaturity, wondering how old he actually was inside that hard shell of his.

"Well, can we get going…?" someone at the back piped up. It turned out to be Rythin. FINALLY. A guy that actually has balls to step up instead of the rest of us, "Cacti" specifically and everyone that's not him excluded from the ball-free zone.

The three+ people arguing looked at him and back to themselves. And with each of them a reluctant sigh, except for Cactus-man, they set off walking back. Cactus-man stayed a little longer to flip them off as they were walking away and then mumble at how "I'll get them, just you wait..."

And they walked on through the dungeon, with "him" arguing starting again with the others screaming his head off.

'Sigh. This is gonna be a loooooong walk back to the town…'

 _And...here's the first chapter! THANKS to all you guys for reading! Tell me in the reviews or in a message what I should improve and I will try and get back to you! Hopefully this story will turn out better than the last...:D_

 _Hehe, you see how I added Rythin there? From my favorite fanfic Nightblade, here's Rythin again, though his story will be a little different._


	3. Previously Chapter 1 of The Fire in

_Author's Note: I assumed that Kayaba Akihiko's first name was Kayaba, seeing how I think that' show Kirito addressed him in the light novel. So I guess it's correct for me. I don't know._

 _Background on SAO for me: I watched the anime and really liked it, though I couldn't figure out why people hated it so much. I then read the light novel and agreed that the light novel is much better than the anime._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, though I would love to, even though I have no imagination and thus no way to complete the series. Sword Art Online is owned by Kawahara Reki (Or Reki Kawahara for you Americans)_

 _On to the story (if it's good enough to be considered one)!_

 **I have dropped this story. Sorry to all you readers, but I feel that I'm not ready for this yet. I'm actually gonna start with another SAO fanfic that's actually gonna start from the beginning of SAO and I feel that that will give me more room to write, unlike this. You guys are still free to read this chapter, but it is unlikely that I will be posting another chapter anytime soon. Again, sorry guys. D:**

Slash to the left.

Parry with a diagonal slant.

Slash again to the stomach.

Dodge to the right.

Double blade horizontal whirl

Parry and jump backwards.

Dodge the long blade coming towards me and jump backwards again.

Slash the arm as it was coming towards me.

I performed these maneuvers over and over again, desperately trying to land a hit on the floor boss. All the Army men were dead...I pitied them for their sudden deaths. It was all Corvax's fault...they didn't even have a chance to say goodbye before they were pulverized by the giant blade. I surveyed the situation while Asuna and Klein held off the boss for a while. I was lucky that I had them instead of going all solo. But it was hopeless, and we all knew that. Them coming here was a bad idea. They would just delay our inevitable deaths. There was no way we could take on a floor boss by ourselves. No one was coming to save us; there was no miracle waiting to happen. We just had to try and hold out as long as we could, and try to make as many prayers as possible to our loved ones before our inevitable deaths.

I would try to make as many prayers as possible before I died.

"Kirito-" I suddenly heard a voice to my left, and looking there, I saw Asuna frantically gesturing to the space behind me. Getting what she meant, I pushed off and narrowly evaded the Gleam Eye's weapon.

Fuck. I shouldn't have stood around thinking to myself so long. Now, because of my mistake, I was forced to pay the price. In front of me, I could see Asuna and Klein frantically trying to fend off the boss, to little or no avail.

With a sweep of its long blade, it swept Asuna and Klein back. Staring in disbelief, I watched the last of their health points disappear, and for Asuna to whisper something illegible to me before bursting into colorful blue polygons. Klein soon followed, after a brief statement of, "It was nice knowing you," before slumping down in defeat and dissolving.

I ran over to where their bodies were and swiped at the air, hoping to get any, just any trace of them into my hands so I could keep them. There was no way they could be gone! NO! It was too early for them to die!

It was all my fault...I stomped my foot on the ground and did it again, cursing the game at that time for having no pain in the game, no way for me to get my act together other than a tingling numbness in the absence of pain.

Standing there screaming at myself for not doing anything, the Gleam Eyes got another hit on me. Not even bothering to look in the corner of my vision at my health bar, I already knew that my health was decreasing at a rapid rate. But I didn't bother fighting back. I knew my life was done for. There was no reason to keep on living if my life was for naught. So I just stood there and closed my eyes, waiting for my life to end and for the NerveGear to fry my brain. I sighed for one last time and made mental prayers to all of my friends, that they would avenge my death and conquer the tower for me, that they would find a friend better than me that could actually protect them, and that they would survive to live another day and to see the glaring sun of the real world and that-

Wait. Why wasn't I dead? Was the Gleam Eyes defeated? Or is this the feeling of death?

I opened my eyes abruptly to be met with a sea of black nothingness as far as the eye could see. I tried to move my body, and found that it was completely intact for some reason. I stretched my limbs in this zero-gravity space and looked at the floating screen in front of me.

Yep. This is the time before death for sure. Why else would there be a floating screen before me? Wait

On the screen was a live video of...someone, I couldn't tell for sure.

Then in that instant I recognized him from all those TV shows I saw, and in all those magazines, all those internet articles. The man who made the game.

Kayaba AkihikoKayaba Akihiko.

I looked down at my feet that were floating on the nothingness. Was he here to give me last words before I died? Was I actually going to die? No, is he here to mock me for dying at the last second, or to congratulate me on my "hard" work?

"I can cut you a deal so you can get your beloved Asuna back."

With the mention of 'her', my brain did a refire, my virtual heart racing at the sound of that beautiful name.

"If you can beat the rest of the game, I will give you Asuna back-"

"YES!" I practically screamed out, sobbing into a pillow of nothing. "YES! I WANT HER BACK!"

"-But." He interrupted my crying, "If you even so much as make a tiny gesture to anyone else about this deal, she dies. Also, if you die, she dies with you. The only way that you can get her back is by conquering the other 26 floors."

He continued, "Of course, this doesn't come free. If you check your stats when you wake up, you will be back at the average level. That's right, no more level 86 man. You're back at level 70. All your skill points have also been taken away from when you put it in, and I'll be neutralizing that one tiny skill from a slot that you chose. But since I'm nice, I'll let you choose which one."

A screen hovered in front of Kirito listing all his skills and he stared at it, trying to see which one he should say goodbye until he reached level 85 again.

He had just gotten the dagger skill, you know, for those times he didn't have a sword, but it wasn't something that he wanted to get rid if. Maybe there was something else he could get rid of. Looking through his skills, he quickly crossed out some that he couldn't get rid of, including the sprint skill, the one-handed sword skill, the searching skill, and of course, the hiding skill.

His hand rested on the throwing skill. Thinking back, he had found that he hadn't really used it often, though it was useful for shooing things away with rocks and throwing picks. But right now, it was the most useless. So he clicked on it.

The skill then disappeared from the list and the window closed in front of him.

Once he could tell that Kirito's attention was back on him, Kayaba continued.

"Believe me, this is a tiny price to pay for your lover's life."

It was hard to acknowledge Kayaba as the jailer of Asuna, and it hurt to think of Asuna as only a reward for getting out of this hellhole.

At the sound of his proposal entering its final words, I looked up into his stone-cold eyes, and slowly nodded, knowing in my 'virtual' brain that the only way to get my beloved back is to conquer all the floors.

"And as a present for you being so noble, I'll give you your dear old friend Klein back, just like new, not knowing what happened except that he passed out during the boss battle and he woke up in an inn. It would be best for you if you told him that you beat the boss and you carried him back." Kayaba told me, talking to me like we were old friends. He cocked his head at my sudden happiness, and dismissed my many thanks with a flick of his hand.

"Now, get on with it. This will be our own little...secret." He looked me in the eyes one last time. "Remember what you have to do."

I closed my eyes, embracing the blackness, and then opened them, seeing a tan ceiling in front of my eyes.

I sat up and looked around. I was back in my inn room. Everything was the same way as I left it. I scratched my head in distaste. Couldn't he have at least given me something for doing all that I-

A sudden knock came on the door to my room. A gruff voice practically yelled, "Oi! Kirito! You have a lot of stuff to explain to me, man!"

Oh right, Klein is back. I suppose that is already a lot for Kayaba to give me, seeing as how I had already asked him to keep Asuna alive until I cleared the game, if I was ever going to.

I stumbled over to the door and opened it to a wide-eyed Klein, obviously confused at what just happened. He ran into my room as soon as the door was half-open and stared at me like I was some sort of madman.

"You got a lot of talking to do, pal..." he told me with a murderous tone.

Damn, right now I felt like those kids in the playground getting bullied by the big kids. I totally felt them now that I was in the same situation, even though it was obvious that I was tens of levels above Klein.

I looked around. Could I jump out the window? Nah, window was latched shut, and even if I was able to jump out, I would have nowhere to go, would I? I would forever be a renegade, and I would be forever haunted by the fact that I refused to answer my friend's question and that my "girlfriend" was gone and that her name was gone from the monument.

Looking around the rest of the room, I saw that the only other exit was the door, with a crazy, panting bachelor in front of it.

Damn. I guess the only choice I have is to talk my way out of this untimely situation...

Karma's a bitch all right.

 _AN: And that's the first chapter! Thanks for reading guys! Sorry for the messy line breaks I'm still learning how to use these fanfiction line breaks_


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